Alabama Hosts Kent State Today At Bryant-Denny Stadium
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Okay, so come on. No one is really expecting Kent State (1-2) to give the number one-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (3-0) a tough game today. Even Alabama head coach Nick Saban gave the guys this past Monday off AND shortened the last full practice session of the week.
Kent State doesn't have a single win over Southeastern Conference football opponents in 12 tries, and have been horribly outscored 557-112. And seven of those 12 games have been against SEC bottom-feeder Kentucky at that!
The Crimson Tide and Golden Flashes have met only once previously, with Alabama coming away with a not-so-tough 47-11 victory in Bryant-Denny Stadium. However, Bama has previously played three MAC opponents in the past, of which Kent State is one. The other two? Well, one was a win and one was a loss for the Tide, with Bama beating Bowling Green 21-7 in 1996 but losing to Northern Illinois 19-16 in 2003.
Both coaches for today contest are Kent State alum. Both Saban and Kent State head coach Paul Haynes not only played for the Golden Flashes, but both played as safeties for the team.
Kent State has lost nine consecutive non-conference road games. Their most recent road win over a non-conference team was in October of 2012 when they defeated Rutgers 35-23.
Things will only get worse today for the Kent State quarterbacks. They have been sacked 12 times already this season, and look for Alabama to greatly increase that number today. Only three other teams have had their QB sacked more times.
Kent State is one of only six teams in the country not to have had a play of at least 40 yards this season. On the other hand, Alabama has had 11 plays going for at least that many. The Crimson Tide is tied with Toledo for the most plays of 40 yards or more.
One final note. Alabama boasts the longest winning streak in the nation at 15 consecutive games. The last loss was to Ole Miss in the third game of last season. Look for 16 consecutive by the end of today.
Alabama and Kent State kick it off at 11:01 a.m. CT this morning at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
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Tide Women's Tennis Looking Good At Rice Invitational
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| Alabama's Danielle Spielmann Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
In singles play for the Crimson Tide, freshman Juliana Valero defeated Mareen Slattery of Denver 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Freshman Maddie Pothoff downed SMU's Ana Perez, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, and junior Smith Hinton defeated Julia Navajo Melendez of Texas State in scores of 6-0, 6-1. The final singles win for came from senior Danielle Spielmann 6-4, 6-3 decision over McNeese State's Sarah Jurakova, 6-4, 6-3.
Valero was partnered with Pothoff to defeat Wagland and Granic of Texas, 6-4, before Hinton and Joanna Saava overcame UTSA's Rossell and Kato, 6-3.
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Alabama Fall Softball Practice Is Underway
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| UA Head Softball Coach Patrick Murphey Photo Credit: ABC33/40 |
The team worked on throwing and fielding drills and other fundamentals yesterday afternoon. Practice is scheduled to continue through the rest of the fall semester, and will include eight exhibition games at Rhoads Stadium during the month of October.
Alabama Softball Head Coach Patrick Murphy is entering his 19th season leading the Alabama Crimson Tide. The head man is emphasizing fundamentals early in practice. "We're going to do everything from bunting to team defense and base running and try and get through everything so that when the spring rolls around, it's just reviewing," Murphy said. "I want to make sure everyone knows what they need to do on a specific play so when it happens in a game, everyone will be covered."
Alabama is loaded and returning 14 players from last year's team, including All-American pitcher Sydney Littlejohn and SEC All-Freshman catcher Reagan Dykes. There are some great new additions to the team as well this season, including freshmen Elissa Brown (Eclectic, Alabama), Gabby Callaway (San Diego, Califfornia), Bailey Hemphill (Lafayette, Louisiana) and Claire Jenkins (Cullman, Alabama).
The Crimson Tide ladies softballers made their 11th Women's College World Series appearance last season, finishing sixth nationally with a 51-14 record. The Bama coaching staff was named the NFCA South Region Coaching Staff of the Year for the 10th time in program history.
Alabama will play eight exhibition games during the month of October at Rhoads Stadium. Tickets to each of the four doubleheaders are only $5.
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Alabama Volleyball Opens SEC Play With Win
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| University Of Alabama Volleyball Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
The victory is the seventh over a ranked opponent in Alabama volleyball history. Incidentally, this is also the first win over a ranked opponent for the Crimson Tide *12-2) since defeating Texas A&M (6-6) back on October 31, 2014 in Foster Auditorium. The two teams have gone to five sets in three of their last four meetings, with Bama coming away victorious in two of those contests.
Offensively, the Crimson Tide was led by Krystal Rivers with 29 kills (2 aces & 2 blocks). Hayley McSparin posted 16 kills (3 blocks) with a .414 hitting percentage. Shannon Mikesky finished with 59 assists and 10 digs, her sixth double-double of the year.
Alabama will close out its eight-match home stand tomorrow against the No. 6 Florida Gators (10-1) at Noon CT, and can be seen live on the SEC Network.
| Game Stats | TAMU | UA |
|---|---|---|
| Kills | 68 | 68 |
| Errors | 23 | 29 |
| Hitting % | .266 | .235 |
| Points | 87.0 | 82.0 |
| Aces | 6 | 6 |
| Blocks | 13.0 | 8.0 |
| TA | 169 | 166 |
| Assists | 62 | 65 |
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Bama Men's Tennis Show Strength In Opener
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| Photo Credit: Alabama Athletics |
Bama's 26th-nationally ranked doubles pair sophomore of Mazen Osama and junior Matthew Rossouw were victorious over Memphis's Andrew Watson and Kai Lemke 8-4. Freshmen Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov beat back Memphis's Sakeel Manji and Matt Story 8-7(8), and Nestrov and senior Ritchie Kruunenberg defeated Tulane's Chi-Shan Jao and Jonathan Star, 8-5. Senior Hayes Brewer and sophomore Langford Hills captured Alabama's final doubles victory in an 8-7(2) decision over Memphis's Turner Voges and Chris Patzanovsky.
In singles play, Rossouw defeated Chris Patzanovsky of Memphis, 6-4, 6-0, and Hills came out the winner over Memphis's Shakeel Manji, 7-5, 6-4. Both of the Crimson Tide's singles wins came in just two sets.
Singles matches today begin at 8 a.m. CT.
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Consultants Bring Tide Football Experience & Fresh Eyes
People have continued to talk and ask questions about Alabama head coach Nick Saban's hiring of former USC head coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian, if you recall, was hired as an offensive consultant only by Saban. He will not be doing any recruiting, nor will he be doing any actual coaching. Consultant. That is what he does.
However, it should also be stated that his job description isn't really clear.
Saban now has five former head football coaches on his staff. This now makes two former Southern Cal head coaches on staff with the hiring of Sarkisian. Offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is the other, who recently received a new contract from the University of Alabama. (Contract is only good for the next five months, however.)
Come to find out, Saban has actually an "unlimited budget" when it comes to doing things like this. Alabama alum like to win. Not too much they'd ever not back what Nick Saban wants as long as it keeps winning national championships.
There are anywhere from 10 to 15 of these so-called consultants at any given time doing work for the Alabama Crimson Tide football staff and team, according to Eric Kiesau, a college football assistant hired by Saban a over a year ago to install no-huddle concepts for the team. He did the same thing previously at Kansas and Washington.
Kiesau said, "How they've set it up is unbelievable."
Of Saban, Kiesau said, "He knows the game is changing. He knows the tempo, high-octane offenses, that's where the game is going. He wanted to do just the tempo part of it, but he didn't want to change the brand."
Concerning this small group of tacticians Saban and his staff have at their disposal, Kiesau said they have their own little domain. "It's a whole other section of the building," Kiesau said. "There are guys, like students, who played football in high school and love Alabama. They watch recruiting film all day long. Then you have your top guys. They start making cut-ups so the assistant coaches are more efficient with their time."
These "consultants" are older experienced football minds. Sarkisian joins Mike Locksley on the offensive side side of things. Locksley the offensive coordinator for the Maryland Terrapins as well as interim head coach recently. Alabama is able to pay him, and others like him, a much smaller amount of money because their salaries are offset by any money they are owed by the head coaches former employers, much like the Kiffin situation with USC. Locksley is reportedly making $45,000 a year from Alabama. But he is actually making much more because of his contract with Maryland, as is Sarkisian and other consultants.
What will Sarkisian's duties at Alabama actually be? Probably not really going to know all that. What is known, however, is that Sarkisian is supposed to help reduce play calls from seven to nine words down to two to three words in Alabama's hurry-up-no-huddle offense.
So, Lane Kiffin you already know is one of the former head coaches, most recently at USC but also for Tennessee and before that the Oakland Raiders of the NFL. Who are the other three?
- Tight ends and special teams coach Bobby Williams was head coach at Michigan State after replacing Saban in 1999.
- Offensive line assistant Mario Cristobal was the main man at Florida International and considered a front-runner for the Miami Hurricanes job before Mark Richt took over.
- Locksley coached at New Mexico from 2009-11.
Kiesau has now left Alabama to become the offensive coordinator at Fresno State, so obviously spending some time with the main guru, Saban, can do a lot for you. Kiesau was with the Tide for only a year.
